Global Outreach Website

Apr 10

Honestly it is a struggle to capture the sense of awe we all had about Monday. God showed up in such ways that convince me that I have neither the time nor the skill to accurately depict. My words are wheelchair bound messengers of stories so good that they should only be experienced, leaving their expression to the fools. So I do write for the whole team in expressing our deepest thanks to those who are supporting us through prayer and financial backing.

After a good night’s rest for most of us, we had breakfast and were seated for worship by 7 with our water bottles filled and daypacks ready. Herman’s opening prayer set the tone for the whole day when he asked for God to stretch our hearts, minds, and expectations. Then he later re-phrased it as asking for God to “enlarge His purposes in our hearts.” Then we looked at James 3:4 and heard about how we were created as people so that our tongues actually activate our body, much like water is a catalyst to Alka-seltzer. Then we considered Jesus and the fig tree in Mark 11 to better understand how faith comes by hearing and then we are to speak out, which is a breeding ground for belief to then grow.

As I considered what I believed to be God’s agenda, it occurred that I want to be a Great Expectator of Him rather than an Aimless Spectator. The readiness in the room confirmed that everyone felt that way about today. During those lessons, Herman poured out many prayers for our time and led us to asking forgiveness for having considered how Jesus was to love me better, even though in reality, I was created to serve Him. Singing songs about coming back to the heart of worship reminded us that all of this (as well as all of our life in our communities) was all about Jesus and nothing else. Today was to be an opportunity to practice the degree to which we really believed that.

Before leaving, we did pray the six specific prayers that every team lifts up before driving off into the mission trip, which, by the way, Herman refers to as a “date with Jesus,” rather than the phrase mission trip. Those six prayers are:

1. Unity
2. Intercession (that we would truly love the people and not just pass off some info to them as if we were pizza delivery types)
3. Spiritual Warfare
4. Supporters
5. Past Teams
6. Future Laborers
7.
Then we drove in the donated SUVs to the small municipality of Amatitlan. Despite hearing that the local evangelical church there that we were partnering with had 120 members, it sure seemed to be much smaller based on the primitive resources. Within minutes of arrival, Dr Alb and his team of two other physicians and handful of translators and a few other experienced helpers had the medical stations and gospel sharing stations set up and were seeing people. They were clearly focused on seeing the many patients that had been lining up throughout the morning and awaiting our arrival.
The flow of people basically begins with those who are waiting initially being given a number to see the next available doctor. The docs saw them in the open air of the shelter sitting on plastic chairs only a few feet from the other physicians. After being seen the patients were escorted in to an available follow-up station which was typically staffed by one or two of us gringos sitting on a plastic chair next to a translator and an empty plastic chair for the patient. Once the patient sat down, a courier would take their prescriptions to the team led pharmacy station. While the order was being filled, us citizens of the US would ask questions to get to know the patients and discern how we could pray for them. Then we would pray for their healing on the spot. Afterwards we’d attempt to determine if the patient had a relationship with Jesus and proceed to share the good news of a Savior to them when appropriate. At some point during that discussion their Rx would typically arrive. So after the conversation had concluded, the translator would explain directions to the patient for taking the medication and then we’d say farewell.

Once we started, there was a vicious dog fight between four very undomesticated canines that frightened a lot of us since we were all in the open air and it was only 15 feet away. With everyone so distracted by this dogfight, there wasn’t much ability to focus on the task at hand. So Herman quickly came leaping amidst the dogs in his superman scrubs (no kidding) and tried kicking the dogs (with the accuracy of a young Guatemalan soccer player that was probably picked last every day of his life) to make them dissipate. Without even landing a blow, he broke them up and they scattered. Back to the business at hand..

Our whole team worked wonderfully together all day, only taking a break for a very modes home cooked luncheon provided by the local church members. The love and sacrifice that they demonstrated was a model to all of us. With an estimated 14% of the Guatemalan population living on $1/day or less, it seemed as if they all were here. The people were just so poor, yet so loving and thoughtful, giving us their food and opening up the pastor’s home next door for us to use a bathroom, which could only be described as a cement outhouse. In so many ways these people looked and acted like the actual New Testament church. Their whole lives were thrown into what they believed.

Over the course of the next four days, we’ll try to capture some of the amazing stories. But tonight I’ll just give you a flavor of our experiences. It all came together as we gathered back together in the compound after dinner. Despite the tiredness that comes with physically and emotionally pouring oneself out during the day, there was an abundance of ‘sit on the edge of your seat and make sure you don’t have a full bladder or you’ll wet yourself’ shocking stories and lessons. The daily wrap-up could’ve gone on a long time. At week’s end I’m hoping to summarize the lessons. But for now, may I just tell you about some of the experiences?

As I mentioned earlier, we found the church members to very loving and as theologically sound as any really good church in Atlanta. They were just poor. With a pastor whose appearance might resemble a down on your luck migrant worker, they did not need us. We were just privileged to be there to love on them through medical missions and provide a great draw for their friends and neighbors. We were there to demonstrate the kind of mercy that God has given us. Tim Keller has written, “Mercy is a command of God, yet it cannot simply be a response to a demand. It must arise out of heats made generous and gracious by an understanding and experience of God’s mercy. It is the hearts of the congregation that must be melted until they ask, “Where is my neighbor?” That is why the preparation for the trip and the time of Christ-centered worship and the intercessory prayer were so important beforehand. I think we’ve all concluded that these people are our neighbors and grown to love them.

Although there was one active case of tuberculosis diagnosed and two legally blind people who were still driving, most of the medical problems were routine. And although numbers aren’t a significant part of the story, I think that I can tell you in order to get a feel for the day that 16 people prayed to receive Christ during the day. The church has a prayerfully considered follow-up plan and will be helping these new believers to grow.

Yet, in God’s kingdom, which is so often counter-intuitive, us below the Mason-Dixon liners may have received the most benefit. We had our hearts expanded with a desire placed in them that they’ll never contract to their previous size. Everyone in the follow-up station seemed to be awed at how much we could ask of an all-powerful God. Concerns the day before had sounded like, “What if I ask God for healing and they aren’t changed? Or what if I don’t explain the entire story of Jesus right?” Those questions had been answered in our group time. But the experience of the day made us believe what CS Lewis wrote about fear of how our weakness might erode God’s glory. Lewis said, “A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.” God showed Himself to be so much bigger than we gave Him credit for.

And while the conversions were amazing, the most shock came from seeing the healings. People walked pain free that could not before. People had sight restored that had been cloudy before. It seemed like 75 AD. God didn’t just show up. He announced His presence with authority. CS Lewis beautifully stated that, “Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.” For those people of Amatitlan and those of us who saw it all with eyes wide open, God used those miracles to point back to the big story- God is redeeming the world to Himself through the work of Jesus Christ.

The author of this update is not capable, I said initially, of capturing the beauty of this day. I’m fearful that I’ll forget the specifics of it. But it was real. And it all happened because the Creator of the universe chose to show up in time and space in order to allow us of little faith to witness His love. That is a story I can tell forever.